Turning Insight Into Action
The uncertainty as to how the Trump administration will proceed in the current environment of marijuana being illegal under federal law while legal, to some extent, in 29 states, has not yet caused significant angst within the $6 billion marijuana industry. Attorney General Sessions’ most recent statements on the issue may change that.
On Monday, June 12, 2017, Massroots.com published a letter it was able to obtain, that Sessions sent to Senators McConnell and Schumer, and Speaker Ryan and Representative Pelosi on May 1, 2017. In this letter, AG Sessions renewed the DOJ’s opposition to the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment. (The law which prohibits the DOJ from spending funds to interfere with the implementation of state marijuana laws.) He asked that Congress not include such restrictions in DOJ appropriations. Sessions cites “an historic drug epidemic,” “potentially long-term uptick in violent crime,” and that smoking marijuana “has significant health effects,” to support his position in this letter. Sessions also states that drug traffickers and criminal organizations cultivate and distribute marijuana and do so “under the guise of medical marijuana laws.”
It is not yet clear what effect, if any, this letter will have. Nonetheless, it seems to signal a change in the Trump Administration’s stance on marijuana that could turn a $6 Billion industry on its head.
A copy of the letter can be obtained at: https://www.scribd.com/document/351079834/Sessions-Asks-Congress-To-Undo-Medical-Marijuana-Protections.